17 Philadelphia Phillies (B Lively) @ San Francisco Giants (M Bumgarner)

California_Dreamin 2017-08-20 23:33:31 UTC #121

EF,....yes, it did!

LoneStarPhan 2017-08-20 23:39:02 UTC #122

I miss the Kalas-Ashburn duo. They made it fun, win or lose.

I am very happy that my fears did not pan out, but I sincerely could see Neris giving up the 3 run home run in this game. To his credit, he did get the last two hitters on the grounder right to him and the called third strike. Neris has given the Phillies some good pitching in the past two seasons, but he is not a machine. What bothers me most is that Garcia was doing fine and then a two out dribble infield hit and he is pulled. That was just stupid and uncalled for in this game.

The Phillies need to work on fundamentals. They need to address the problem of runners being out at the plate on a far too regular basis.

California_Dreamin 2017-08-20 23:54:02 UTC #123

LSP...this is not just a Phillie problem, it is an organizational problem. One thing I notice with alarming regularity in the Phillie minor leagues, almost daily and often almost every team, is the number of players who get picked off [it shows up as CS and PO]. This simply should not happen.

I hope Klentak is taking notes and gets rid of many of the dead wood coaches that he inherited. I like much of what he has done and believe he is figuring it out but the task is far from finished. Other than Stairs, there is not a major league coach I would keep, though Bowa seems to have mellowed and does a good job with the middle infielders, he can stay.

I still think a Showalter would be fantastic, if not him then Wathan since he knows the players and they have always responded well to him. But not Peter Mac, no way, no how. I still believe he has personally cost the team 5 games minimum with his over managing and love of some players [Galvis] and seeming distaste for other youngsters.

And if he is the one behind bringing Crawford up to play 3rd base so Galvis can reach his selfish and personal goal of starting all 162 games, then that is one more strike against him.

bkox 2017-08-20 23:55:12 UTC #124

zambonir 2017-08-21 00:07:58 UTC #125

I'd be surprised if Mackanin even know Galvis was working out at 3B.

flyers19rw 2017-08-21 00:45:32 UTC #126

Posey is a legend in his own mind. Never has so much been made of so little with this guy.

schillingfan 2017-08-21 19:36:28 UTC #127

Bowa was a pretty good 3B coach as I recall.

allentown 2017-08-21 22:12:31 UTC #128

I have no idea how you can say this. The guy has an .887 OPS this year. That's great for a catcher. He has a career OPS over .850. The guy's only 30 and has already played in over 1000 MLB games. But, you're right, nothing to see here, his ability as a hitter is all in his own mind. There is realistic dissing of the opposing team and then there is the ridiculous. Posey is a consistent AS-quality player.

flyers19rw 2017-08-21 23:01:13 UTC #129

Next to the Phillies, the Giants have been the team that I have followed for over sixty years. Some folks want to put him in the category of being a Giant's great. I just don't see it. Good? Sure. Great? No way. Molina or Posey, who do you take? There are others catchers who are superior to him. Is his arm grade A. No; good not bad. Is he defensively exceptional? No, again, good not bad. Great average? Good, not bad. Power? Not exceptional. However the media seems to love him.
As a teammate, when Hunter Strickland had his issue with Bryce Harper, Posey waived a white flag. In the melee that ensued, Morse had his career ended. If Posey intercedes with Harper, as you'd expect the catcher to do, it doesn't get to the mound. Posey is all about Posey. He doesn't want to play any other position in order to preseve his reputation as a catcher. When the Giants have had quality catchers behind him and have approached him to move to 1B where the organization has needs, he turns them down.
He's a good player but for him to pop off about Neris hitting him yesterday like he's so important that no one wants to pitch to him was a joke. He's not that good. He got hit. Go to 1B and be quiet.

bkeich 2017-08-22 01:11:13 UTC #130

Wow, bad year for you

Aww, come on. His batting average for a catcher is HOF worthy (that doesnt get him in alone, but he is among the best BA hitters in baseball history for a catcher). Lifetime .308 hitter in a period when there are very few .300 lifetime hitters

mdougherty12 2017-08-22 05:00:48 UTC #131

For a different view on Posey's value, here's a recent article from 538:

zambonir 2017-08-22 05:45:22 UTC #132

Obviously Flyers is coming at this from a very different place as a Giants fan. It's kind of like listening to one of our own run down Howard or Burrell

allentown 2017-08-22 11:23:14 UTC #133

Or Mike Schmidt.

tom81 2017-08-22 12:21:37 UTC #134

Or Dick Allen. I remember him spelling BOO with his cleates in the dirt in reaction to the "fans."

flyers19rw 2017-08-22 14:13:14 UTC #135

Always was a Phillies phan first but have liked the Giants as my second team. My Uncle took me to Phillies-Giants games at Connie Mack Stadium. We always went early to see the Giants pre-game practice to watch Willie Mays. Often times he would mess around and take IF at SS. He was fantastic! So quick around the bag. No doubt he would have been the best SS in the game but Durocher knew that opponents would have killed him on a DP so off to the OF Willie went. He was the greatest athlete that I've ever seen in sports.
Going back to Posey, as a catcher, I'm willing to give him his due-he is a good catcher but I don't see him as HOF material. To me that is Yadier Molina type of play. He's no Pudge. Especially as a leader. I go back to the Strickland-Harper incident. The catcher's role there is to cut off the batter from getting to the mound. Posey made no attempt to do that and guys got hurt in the aftermath. If Yadi was catching, there is no way that he wouldn't have restrained Harper.
Posey is photogenic and that has enhanced his reputation the eyes of the media. He's good but so are Gary Sanchez, J.T. Realmuto, Brian McCann, Sal Perez and a few others. IDK if Posey is better than any of these guys.

allentown 2017-08-22 15:38:31 UTC #136

Per Baseball Reference:
Brian McCann: 13 seasons, +29.3 WAR; +0.4 WAR in 2017
Gary Sanchez: 2 seasons, +5.7 WAR; +2.7 WAR in 2017
Realmuto: 3 seasons, +8.1 WAR; +3.2 WAR in 2017
Sal Perez: 7 seasons, +19.2 WAR; +2.3 WAR in 2017
Buster Posey: +37.5 WAR in 8 seasons; +4.0 WAR in 2017

So Posey is the best of the lot, and it really isn't super close.

And, Yadier Molina: 13 seasons, +35.5 WAR; 2.2 WAR in 2017

And just for local interest: Darren Daulton +22.9 WAR in 13 seasons, max WAR of 6.9 in 1992 -- Dutch at his peak

Max WAR for Molina was +6.9 in 2012
Max WAR for Posey was +7.3 also in 2012

Yadier Molina does accumulate a much higher percentage of his WAR as dWAR.

Lawman 2017-08-22 15:55:44 UTC #137

There's even a song about it:

zambonir 2017-08-22 16:39:48 UTC #138

Posey has three World Series rings before the age of 30. That may not have anything to do with his individual greatness but it's certainly the reason for his reputation.